


Eternity

by SlythernMischief



Category: Powerpuff Girls, Rick and Morty, Spyro the Dragon (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2019-08-03 09:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16324061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlythernMischief/pseuds/SlythernMischief
Summary: Him creates his own mental hell games that causes everyone in Bianca's world to suffer.  It's his favorite form of entertainment after all, especially when a certain person of interest is the main player.  Is there ever a way to escape being a part of his playground?





	1. Start Game

 

 

 

_What’s this? Saving the day again?_   
_Unaware of what lies ahead, blissfully carrying on like everything will be ok, you will one day realize what you are meant to be._   
_The next time you look in the cracked mirror, what will you see? Who will you see? Let my most anticipated fun begin!_

A thief in a green striped robe holding a dragon egg runs to the left in a grassy field in a hurry to get away with its stolen treasure. Another thief in a blue robe carrying another dragon egg runs to the right. A familiar purple dragon with yellow spikes lined down the back of his head, named Spyro is chasing after the blue thief. He torches it with his fire breath, burning the robe just enough to make it drop the dragon egg. Fortunately, the eggs are sturdy enough to handle simple falls. He carries the thief to a big cage containing other thieves that were recently caught. A young lady dressed in goth style clothes with long raven-like hair and ice blue eyes, named Bianca, runs after another thief. She uses her ice powers to form a sharp icicle, then throws it down at the thief’s dragging robes, attaching it to the ground. It remains trapped as she takes the egg from it. Spyro then melts the icicle with his flame breath, grabs the thief, then flies it to the same cage.

Another red robed thief with an egg, also on the loose, suddenly runs into an invisible wall. It was created by the trickster god, Loki, who is pleased with the success of his clever trick. Spyro comes to collect the egg and thief to join the others in the cage. A grander dragon flies overhead and hauls the cage off to prison. Spyro tells them, “Thanks a lot, guys, that’s the last of them. That was the biggest thief raid we had. I guess they were desperate, though they never really seem to learn.”

Bianca gladly says, “No problem, it was all good fun. I wonder who sends them.”

“No one knows. One day the dragon detectives will find out.” Spyro answered.

Loki joins in the conversation, “Glad to be of service and put on a show of illusion.”

“Yes, how could we forget about that? They never saw it coming.” Bianca said with sarcasm.

Spyro says, “Well, it was good to see you guys. I’ll just put the last eggs back where they should be. Thanks again.”

Bianca says, “Anything for a best friend.”

Spyro flies off. Loki asks, “So where to next?”

Bianca wasn’t sure, “I don’t know. Do you have anything in mind?”

Loki takes her hand in his, “Maybe wherever randomness takes us?”

“Sounds good,” She passionately kisses him then says, “That plan always seems to work out.”

They start walking through the field. A young red dragon walks up to Bianca, it looks like it wants her to follow it. “I’ll see what this one wants real quick.” She told Loki.

He chimes in with, “I don’t know, something seems off about that one. Just be careful.

“I will.” She told him then starts following the dragon. Suddenly the dragon begins flying away. She watches where it’s going, curiously it starts circling above her. The ground opens beneath her, without warning. She falls down to a room that seemed to be very pink, too pink to her liking. This seemed familiar to her now; she’s heard rumors of Him’s existence. Word of what lies in other dimensions spreads like wildfire in her world. She was the only one that could magically open a portal to any of these dimensions, others had to rely on dragons to build a portal to their desired destination. No doubt this was living room belonging to a devil known as Him. He’s known as a cross-dressing devil, who should not be underestimated. The powerful demon was right there, sitting on his pink couch with his legs crossed. She quickly glances behind at his TV to see it tuned in to the place she was previously at. A few dragons are now there investigating the area questioning what just happened. The screen disconnects from the view, making the room awkwardly silent. Bianca looks back him with his broad smile remaining on his face while he gets up and walks towards her. She tries to stand up, but she couldn’t. It’s as if something or someone is preventing her from moving by an invisible force. Why was this? Why can’t she control anything? He simply crouches down to her level to gently kiss her on the lips. Heavy drowsiness hits her, causing her to fall asleep.


	2. Let's Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm running through the night looking for a place to hide.  
> I don't know what to do and I'm afraid of you  
> You are hunting me and you are scaring me  
> I hope I can escape and I hope it's not too late"  
> -Blutengel: My Nightmare

Bianca wakes up still on the floor. He wasn’t anywhere in sight. Finally, she can move and stands up. Hoping he doesn’t return anytime soon, she takes this opportunity to leave by creating a portal to Loki’s manor. She figures there’s a chance he might be there, so she could tell him about what happened. She looks around in various rooms for Loki. The house is eerily dead silent. “Looking for someone?” A feminine voice said. Bianca was so focused on finding Loki, she didn’t notice Him there in the hall. She’s startled to see him here. It seems like he has been waiting for her here. Where was Loki? Bianca didn’t have to ask… Him already knew it, “He’s not here. I’m afraid he got himself captured.”

“Loki doesn’t get captured.” She said in disbelief.

“It’s true. I’m not lying.” He said in a convincing tone.

She didn’t want to believe him yet. “You’re wrong!” She leaves through a portal for the Twilight Realm in the Zelda world to find her friend Midna. In the throne room, Midna is also missing. Him appears sitting on the abandoned throne. She asks. “Her too? Also, you can travel to different dimensions?”   
“Of course, I’ve been in your world, haven’t I?” he answered.   
She leaves that dimension back to her world but to the dragon kingdoms to look for Spyro. “Don’t bother looking for him either.” He said while standing on a rooftop. The dragons passing by notice him and gasp with frightened looks, like they’re viewing their worst nightmare. Him has some sort of orange dust in his claw and blows on it. The dust freely floats in the air, before settling down on a patch of grass next to a house. Instantly, it ignites into a roaring fire. Bianca couldn’t believe what just happened. The fire quickly engulfs the building and spreads through the village to other houses. Some dragons who were still in them barely make it out in time. Before Bianca could rush toward the fire to help, a claw grabs her by the arm and forcibly pulls her away.   
“Let me go!” She yelled while trying to free herself from him. “They need help until backup arrives.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Then again, I’m not afraid at all.” His tone lowers, “Let it all burn.” He continues dragging her. She hastily forms an ice bomb in her hand and throws it at the fire closest to her. It blasts a wave of ice on impact and freezes most of the building. The flames are extinguished for one house, but it wasn’t enough for the rest of the village. She forms a much bigger ice bomb and throws it in the air for a dragon flying by to catch. “You think you’re so clever.” Him taunts in frustration. A green dragon comes and snatches the ice bomb just as the two of them disappear back to a vacant pink room.

“Where’s everyone? Where did you take them?” Bianca asked him. He let’s go of her and paces around the room.

“You really expect me to tell you that? Besides, you’ll find out one day,” He answered in a dark tone, then makes his voice lighter, “but not today.” He stops pacing in front of her. Then he jumps, claws reaching out to her but disappears before he could reach her. The room vanishes around her and is replaced with a dimly lit woods.

She sees a young man who dressed identically to her. He starts talking to her, “You’re here too? He just sent me here. Maybe we could figure a way out of these woods.”

“Sure. Let’s escape these woods as fast as we can. I really want to find my friends soon.” She said, feeling incomplete without them.

“We’ll find them.” He reassured her.

“You’ll help me?” She asked with a feeling of hope, willing to trust him.

He takes her into a hug and says, “Of course I will, especially for someone like you.” She starts feeling an odd pain in her chest, but it wasn’t physical pain. “Foolish girl!” A feminine voice exclaimed. The pain within continuing as she notices the arms holding her are not human anymore.

She tries pulling away in shock as the rest of him reverts to his standard form. He holds onto her, “Let go! What are you doing to me?” she shouted in fear.

He laughs and says, “Awww, but aren’t we having so much fun? You should have listened to his words of warning. Now, I get to play with you and get a taste.”

He’s right, she should have listened to Loki. She wouldn’t be here right now if she didn’t follow that dragon. She looks up at him. “A taste of what?”

“You really don’t know? Maybe it will be more obvious later... You know, you remind me of someone I used to love to torment. Now stop wasting your energy on getting away from me, and prepare for my next game.” He grabs her shoulders and twirls her around to face the path in the woods in front of her. “In this challenge, you have three minutes to escape from capture.”

“No problem.” She said confidently.

“Portal usage isn’t allowed.”

She breathes out in frustration, as he laughs in delight. Disappearing, he’s offering her a head start, so she starts running. She remembers the hoverboard chip she still has with her. All the various human-like beings use them for flight in her world, so everyone keeps one with them at all times. Bianca reaches into her pants pocket and takes out the chip. It looked like it could be mistaken for a computer chip. Unexpectedly, a snapping claw reaches out from the hole of a tree. Bianca ducks underneath it, accidentally dropping the chip. After hitting the ground, the chip expands into a slick, black hoverboard in the shape of an oval big enough for two people to stand on. She steps onto it and flies away from the claw behind her. While maneuvering around other claws emerging from trees, she nearly flies into a bigger pair of claws that are in front of her, open wide waiting to snatch her. On another tree, all the leaves fall off in sync and quickly blow towards Bianca. She creates an ice shield around her and the board just in time. The leaves scratch the ice as they zip by. Within the group, a dark energy ball shoots through, breaking the shield and hitting her hard enough to knock her off the board. Another energy ball collides with the board. She lands on the ground roughly, followed by the board. Bianca sits up and reaches for it. Before she could get to it, a claw comes out of the earth and snaps the board in half. Then the claw retreats back into the ground. In frustration, she says out loud, “Alright. I get it.” Standing up, she runs into a tunnel created by some trees bent low towards each other as if to share a secret, casting shadows on the ground beneath them. Hiding amongst the shadows, she looks out the entrance she came from. Him materializes quite a few feet away from the opening. Silently, she steps farther into the darkness. He looks around then gazes into the tunnel. He remarks, “Not bad. One minute remaining.”

No doubt, he sees her watching him, so he disappears. Bianca takes this opportunity to run out the other tunnel entrance down another part of the woods. It leads to an open area surrounded by a circle of trees with more woods behind them. She stops in the center and looks around. A teal mist fills the air and causes her to feel lightheaded. She fights through it enough to start running as fast as she can through the woods in front of her to get out of the mist. It swiftly starts spreading and engulfing everything in it. No matter where she turns, the mist becomes thicker, creating thick fog. Everything becomes barely visible.

A sharp pain in her shoulder wakes her to find she’s still standing in the spot she was in last. The fog is now gone, and everything is visible. The pain is still there, so she looks in the direction of it. Nearly jumping in shock, she sees Him there, sinking his sharp teeth into her shoulder while standing behind her. He stops biting, and his teeth return to normal. He giggles, playfully saying, “Got you! I win.”

He was proud of himself. He wraps his arms around Bianca, then he directs his attention to something ahead of them. She was going to say something in frustration about how he won, but she decided to remain quiet and look at what he’s looking at. A dark blue juvenile dragon from the Magic Crafters realm is walking around in a manner as if they are lost. “Oooh look, a dragon. You’re friends with them, right?” His voice deepens, “Watch what we can do.” He mysteriously disappears. A demonic looking sword suddenly appears in her hand. Bianca holds it and starts walking, with a murderous expression, up to the tall male dragon. Everything she is doing is against her will. It looks into her lime-green eyes.

The dragon pleads desperately, “Please don’t hurt me. I-i-i just came here because of a prank and don’t know my way back.”

Bianca being trapped within herself, mentally begs Him to not hurt him. He tells her, “I’m not the one hurting him. You are.”

Bianca is crying internally, unable to control her actions; also unable to say anything to the dragon. It’s like her lips were sewn shut. She quickly swipes the sword up the side of the dragon’s face, then stabs him in his chest. The dragon lets out a cry before falling to the ground, barely breathing. She removes the sword, and it disappears. Finally, she regains free movement. The dragon disappears before she could help him. She looks around, then notices Him behind her and turns around to face him, “What was that about?! Where did you send him?”

Him answers with a confident, feminine voice, “I wanted a good demonstration. Don’t worry, I transported him to one of those dragon medical facilities. As for you, your body is forever mine to control whenever I want.”

“You didn’t have to brutally attack a dragon for a demonstration.”

“Oh? Would you have preferred someone else? Remember, you’re the one who attacked him. They were nearly killed by your cruel hand.”

“No! No one should have been a test subject. You used me to fatally wound him! Why use me, anyways? You clearly have your own powers.”

Him laughs at her frustration and answers, “Just having a bit of fun. Why not use you?” Lost in her anger and sadness, she summons a dagger and stabs him in the chest with it. He yelps and instantly removes the blade with irritation and tosses it to the ground. He suddenly laughs. Bianca is surprised at how he seems to be behaving as if it was just a scratch. He roughly seizes her by the arm and forcibly pulls her closer to him. Whirling her around and holding her tightly against him, in a lower tone of voice he bitterly says, “Fine, you want to play like that?” She suddenly starts feeling tired; meanwhile, his wound starts healing at an accelerated rate. While he recovers, she grows more and more tired, nearly falling asleep. The last thing she hears is him whispering into her ear, saying, “Just remember darling, I always win.”

Bianca wakes up on the floor again in the pink room. He wasn’t around yet, but she could sense he was going to show up any second now. She takes this opportunity to create a portal and leaves.


	3. Debuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Asche zu asche und staub zu staub  
> Und das feuer wird zu eis  
> Asche zu asche und staub zu staub  
> Und der mond berührt die sonne" ~ Blutengel

 

_So much fun in chaos.  
_ _The fire continues to burn.  
_ _I wonder what it will take to break the ice._

  
~Earlier~  
Him laughs to himself while looking at Bianca on the floor. He leaves with confidence she’ll still be there by the time he returns. His first stop is the Twilight Realm. He waltzes through the dark place illuminated by the turquoise patterns along the wall and floor.  He acts like he has urgent business there that no one dares ask about. They watch him reach the throne room. Midna is sitting on the chair, talking to a Twili citizen. She sees Him there, seeing he is not here to chat, she dismisses the Twili. He understands and leaves them alone in the room. She stands up and walks down the steps to his level. “Can I help you?”  
  
“Yes. You will be of excellent help, but in order for you to do that, I need you to come with me.” Him insisted.  
  
Midna laughs at his request, “You must be joking, thinking I’d go with you.”  
  
“Of course I do.” He makes the room pitch black. Midna warps a ball emitting a bright white light into the room. It lights up the room enough show he was standing behind her. He grabs her before she could react. He deepens his voice, “Now, I have other places to be and not much time. So I’m not up for much playing here. I’m sending you to a place you cannot break out of. You’ll have to wait for a close ally of yours to come for you.” Black goo-like tentacles come out of the ground and wrap around her. One of them covers her mouth to prevent her from speaking. She drops the light as he lets go of her, allowing the tentacles to drag her through a red portal that appears on the floor. He chuckles as it happens then leaves the realm for the Dragon Village.  
  
The day is now starting to fade. A fiery sunset lights the sky, an orange hue on the village. Any dragon currently walking around stops to look at him.  
  
He announces to them, “I’m looking for a certain purple dragon that everyone seems to favor. Perhaps someone would like to tell me where he is.”  
  
“What do you want with him?” A green dragon named Nestor asked in suspicion.  
  
“I need help with something. Spyro likes doing favors, right?” Everyone else looks up at Spyro flying around nearby. Him smiles wide and giggles. “Thank you for your cooperation.”  
  
He flies up to meet Spyro.  
  
Spyro notices him and stops flying and hovers in place. He becomes irritated, “Someone just had the nerve to send one of their minions when I’m busy with something else.”  
  
“I think you mean, you’re busy looking for someone.”  
  
“Yeah… wait, how did you... Did you take her?”  
  
“Quite a fall that was if I do say so. Currently, she rests until I return. As for you, you’re also valuable.”  
  
“Hate ruining your win-streak pal, but whatever you’re planning will be stopped, and I’m not going with you.”  
  
“See that’s the problem with everyone. Everyone thinks I’m some lackey sent by a considerably graver threat, yet they never realize,” his voice deepens, “they are in the presence of the King of Darkness.” He extends his claw out in attempts to snatch him. Spyro flies away in time. Him pursues the purple dragon while other dragons fly up to defend Spyro. “There’s always room for anyone who gets in my way. Feel free to volunteer to be a part of my game.” He throws energy balls at all Of the dragons, knocking them through red portals that open behind them. He now has a clear shot of Spyro. Him makes a glowing red chain appear in his claw. He throws it towards Spyro, and it extends out to reach him. Spyro sees it and flies away from it as fast as he can. The chains speed up, catching up to him. They wrap around him, making him unable to fly. A red portal opens underneath him as falls through it and is transported to someplace else.  
  
Some of the dragons who witnessed what happened, start panicking; meanwhile, other dragons fly up to challenge Him. He launches more chains that successfully capture them. He laughs at his success and from hearing their screams of terror. He notices his last willing volunteer amongst the panicked crowd, watching with everyone else, is a familiar dark-haired man he saw with Bianca. He teleports down to the village. The dragons around the area nervously start backing away, while Loki remains where he is. He guesses, “I suppose you came for me as well. What are you looking to get out of this?”  
  
“I already have the sugary sweet one. I just need a few guests to spice up the entertainment. The result is going to be beyond nice with the secret chemical of chaos.”  
  
A dagger is suddenly being held to Him’s throat from Loki, who is standing behind him while a Loki copy is still standing in front of him. “That’s nice and all, but just tell me where she is,” Loki said.  
  
Him chuckles, “I knew you’d be the toughest one to capture. That’s why I saved you for last.” He transforms into a purple butterfly and evades the dagger while flying away from him. Then he reverts to his original form. “That’s why I have this with me.” He smashes a purple orb on the ground. A semi-transparent purple dome encloses the area they are standing in along with part of the village around them. “You’re not escaping here.” He said in a low voice. Loki is a bit surprised to see what Him is capable. He makes multiple copies of himself; each of them is holding a dagger aimed at Him. “Ah-ah, you don’t know where she is. If you weaken me now, then you won’t find her, not that you could anyway. You’re a tough one to bring down, but it can be done with the right strategy. It’s impossible to kill me.” Loki’s copies disappear.  
  
” So what am I supposed to do? Just let you take me to wherever everyone else disappeared to while you have her locked up?”  
  
” Precisely, you’ll see her soon if you agree to come without conflict.”  
  
” Where are we going?” A thick mist surrounds the two of them until they were no longer in the village. Loki finds himself in a jail cell in a dungeon.  
  
Him is standing outside the cell and laughs hysterically.”  She’s actually just sleeping for now, Yet I feel as if she might be awake by now. You all are the ones locked up. Enjoy your stay! I must tend to her.” He continues laughing as he teleports to his living room. He is surprised to see she isn’t there and quickly teleports back to where he left Loki.  
  
Loki is amused at Him’s frustrated expression,” Did she manage to self-evict herself?”  
  
Him is now short on patients,” If she were to try to find you, where would she look?”  
  
”  I’m going to tell you because?”  
  
” Because I’ll kill one of her friends if you don’t.”  
  
He sighs,”  She’s more than likely at my place.”  
  
Him remembers seeing them at a luxurious house a couple of times. He teleports to Loki’s house in time to see her wandering around looking for Loki. Him waits for the right moment to make his presence known.  
  
~Current Time~  
  
The portal she created somehow led her to a garage that has lab equipment on the tables. A thin older man in a white lab coat is working on something at a table. He turns around after hearing her footsteps. He points his laser gun at her. “Who are you, and how did you get here?”  
  
She answers in a panic, “I had to get away from Him. I just opened a portal out of that place. I didn’t mean to come here... I’m Bianca.”  
  
“Rick Sanchez.” He is still suspicious but lowers his gun a little. Sarcastically, he continues, “Whoever you were escaping from must have been a real threat. Nothing I couldn’t handle.”  
  
He notices the bite on her. He couldn’t shake the odd feeling creeping on about something with this. Something does not seem right. “I’m guessing he did that?”  
  
She looks to the bite which stopped bleeding by now and says, “Yeah. I don’t think you’ve been around demons like Him.”  
  
Rick boasts, “Are you kidding? Nothing can surprise me. I’m the smartest man in the universe. I’ve dealt with Cromulons, robots, parasites that create false Memories, the Council of Ricks, plus I even took down a government of those robots.”  
  
“I’m glad to hear you’ve achieved so much.” A red portal opens behind her, and Him’s arms emerge. They snatch and drag her through it. Now Bianca is back in the pink room.  
  
Him speaks like she is in trouble, “Did I say you could leave? Don’t think I did.”  
  
“You weren’t here to say anything about it.”    
  
“Think you’re so smart right now? I’m not surprised you left again since you had the opportunity.”  
  
Tired from hearing his words, she makes sharp icicles appear on the ceiling above him. He looks up at them and side-steps out of the way as they fall to the ground.  
  
“You must have not learned from the last time. Pity… oh well. Let’s see how you deal with this.”  
  
He aims a claw at her and shoots a dark energy beam at her to sap her energy. After draining most of it, he stops and warps behind her to hold her close to him once again. “I’d love to play with you more, but he insists I hand you over. So I might as well take what I desire now.” He now has sharp fangs and bites her neck. The odd pain she felt earlier in her chest returns but worse. It becomes more agonizing by the second, like something is being ripped out of her piece by piece. She starts feeling cold, shedding tears while still feeling the sharp pain from this force that is cutting like a knife from within.  She is barely able to say, “Please stop.” In a few long minutes, he finally stops. He licks the blood trickling down her neck from the two holes. He keeps her from falling as a tall black figure appears.  
  
Him speaks up, “See Aku? I told you I’d leave her barely alive, just for you.” While dazed from what just happened, she listens to them talking.  
  
He smiles, “I see you did. This alliance wasn’t a mistake after all. Now I can finish this once and for all.” His eyes narrow at her. Him tosses her to the ground. She suddenly notices Aku reaching for her. She desperately fights the cold darkness setting in and stands up as quickly as possible. Then she uses the last bit of energy to run a short distance away to open a portal back to Rick’s world. She leaves through it in time. Luckily, he is still there. He sees her stumble in and collapse on the floor.  
  
~Unfortunate Demons~  
Aku is not pleased with Bianca leaving, “I thought you said she was barely alive!”  
  
“She was indeed.” Him answered calmly.  
  
“Then what do you call that?”  
  
“Because she was still alive, as you asked, she managed to have the will to live and leave.”  
  
“You better hope I kill her, or you’ll be wishing you were mortal.”  
  
Him is unfazed by the threat. “Of course you will get to. That’s why we have them here. She’ll have to come back to the rescue.”  
  
“Hmm, so far I like where this is going. For once I don’t have to hire other incompetent minions to help. I mean they all seem so promising, but always lead to disaster.”  
  
“I think you know by now that I don’t disappoint. Now, we can rule this world.”


	4. Co-op

Rick is busy figuring out what to do about the unresponsive girl. Something about this is intriguing to him. Morty is calling for him from somewhere in the house. Rick thinks about how this situation might be unfit for Morty, at least until he learns more about what’s going on. Using his portal gun, he opens a portal to Bianca’s world and takes her with him before Morty can find them. The portal led him to an island with steep cliffs around it. The wind starts picking up as dark clouds roll by, covering the red sky. He notices a big two-story house in the middle of the island. Him, who is currently taller than the island, sideways glancing at the two of them as he is strolling by the island. His smile widens after looking at them. Aku, who is flying by in the form of a bird, also sees them and steers off course towards them. Rick panics and runs for the house. He uses his elbow on the handle of the front door. Surprisingly, it was already unlocked. He makes it into the house. The door swings shut behind him. He finds part of the first floor is primarily a laboratory with a living room and kitchen. The living room contains a staircase ascending one wall to the second floor and a bookcase on another wall. Everything seemed a bit dusty and untouched for an unknown period of time. He hastily sets Bianca down on the couch, then goes back to the door and locks it. He notices what seemed like a security control panel on the wall. He presses the power button to turn it on. An electronic voice asks, “What shall I keep out?”  
  
Rick hesitantly says, “Uh a-anyone that’s not urp-my or Bianca’s friend. Especially those two guys outside right now. Oh and uh Jerry.”  
  
It responds, “Command noted. Protection on.”  
  
A blue force field covers the building. He hears Aku outside trying to get in through the shield but failing in the process. He leaves making sounds of disappointed. Rick sighs in relief and takes a sip from his flask he often carries in his lab coat pocket. After which, he goes back to the living room and brings Bianca to a big table. A few feet away from the table is a counter along the wall with two office chairs. A large flat computer monitor is mounted on the wall. He presses the power button on the keyboard to activate it. While it boots up, he notices a mobile scanner on the counter and decides to use it on Bianca. It detects her body sustaining a very incomplete soul.   
  
“Huh, that’s weird,” Rick commented. He tries re-scanning, yet it comes back with the same data. It also shows she lost only a tenth of blood despite the two bites. Both seemed to be healing already. Being a man of science, he had to think about the question, ‘How to heal a soul? How could a machine heal a soul?’ He looks around for possible ideas or gadgets for an unusual task. All types of equipment could be found,  devices that can heal wounds, broken bones, or reattaching limbs; but nothing for something abstract. “Nothing to worry about. I’m Rick. I can destroy or fix anything.” He walks around the place thinking on what to do, deciding to check out the bookcase to see if it had any information on souls. He looks through it to see if he could find anything. One book on demons, angels, and souls catches his eye. He removes it from the shelf and looks through it.  
  
The text shows:  
  
(Typically, demons take the whole soul and leave nothing behind. In case any part of it is still in the body for various reasons, the only thing to heal it is unmanipulated time. If the being has less than a quarter of the soul, they may feel as if they are dying. They need at least 10% of a soul to function. If they have less than that, they will collapse into a coma-like state until the soul has healed to the amount mentioned.)  
  
He roughly puts the book back and walks back to the computer in frustration. He sits in the chair and wastes time on the computer while waiting for her to wake up.  
  
Bianca sees a tall man in a dark suit and tie, walking in a city located close to a beach. He seems to come across as charming when interacting with others. She felt the urge to talk to him, so she starts following him. Without warning, everything around her changes to a dark purple room. Even though it’s a purple color, she knew what it meant. She panics as she sees Him is also there with her. “Well-well, didn’t think you had it in you to escape like that.”  
  
“What do you want from me?” She asked.  
  
“You were merely in the wrong place, so I had to take you away from there.”  
  
“Why? What’s so bad about it? Or was it because of the person I was following?”  
  
“He’s someone I wouldn’t recommend crossing paths with. The house you’re in can prevent me from entering, but it can’t keep me from your dreams. You should be glad I always have a way to reach you.”  
  
She wakes up on the same table and sits up. She sees Rick sitting at the computer desk.  
  
“Where are we?” She asked.  
  
He spins around in the chair to face her with enthusiasm, “Only in one of the coolest labs ever. I wish I knew about your world sooner.”  
  
“They really can’t get us here?”  
  
Rick answers, “Yep, just our friends can get into this place. There’s a field outside around it keeping them out. Um, you’ve been out cold this whole time, so how did you know about it keeping them away?”  
  
“Him told me about it in my dream.  He said that this place can’t keep him away from things like that. I feel like something is missing.  What happened?” She asked.  
  
“Some stalker you have. Both of them came strolling by here a while ago. Hey, you know both of those guys are in cartoons that air in my dimension? I never thought about them existing. Anyways Him nearly ate your entire soul, but didn’t.”  
  
The thought of it gives her shivers. “You healed me?”  
  
“Duh, of course I did! I know what I’m doing. Though I r-really couldn’t heal it all, just enough for you to be able to function. The rest is gonna have to heal on its own.”  
  
“I appreciate all that you did. Dare I ask how much of a soul I have now?”  
  
He uses the scanner again. “I don’t know how you are with luck, but 13 percent. Basically, it was like you were low on blood supply, but instead, low on a soul.” She carefully gets off the table and looks around.  
  
“Doesn’t someone else own this place we are using?”  
  
“Seemed pretty abandoned to me, and no one has returned yet. We’re here because I didn’t have everything I needed to heal you.”  
  
Bianca thinks about her missing friends. “I have to get my friends back. He still has them.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“He took a few of my closest friends. I don’t know where they are.”  
  
“Sheesh, he must really have it in for you. What did you do to piss this guy off?”  
  
“Nothing! He just showed up one day. Or more like he made me fall through a hole, and I showed up at his house. At some point, he took my friends, and now I have to get them back.”  
  
“Not to be insensitive, but it’s just a few friends.”  
  
“These few friends are important to me; also, they have importance to where they live. I’m sure you have some close friends that you would do anything for.”  
  
“Fine, I may have a couple, but it doesn’t matter.”  
  
“I really do appreciate what you have done, but could I possibly trouble you to help me get them back?”  
  
“Oh, come on! I just acted in the moment earlier. This isn’t even my problem! Is there no one else that can do this?”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“Well, at least you are cool enough to be able to make portals on your own. Right? You’re not using some gadget? You use magic for portals?”  
  
“Right, along with ice powers and various tricks with swords and daggers. Loki and this demon lord called Ghirahim taught me.”  
  
“Wait a sec. They exist too? If Ghirahim exists, that means the Zelda world exists! Holy crap this universe rocks! I’m in.”  
  
“Great. Thank you.”  
  
“Yeah. I’m just gonna go back home for a minute and grab some things.” He opens a portal to his home with the portal gun and leaves.  
  
Rick is back in his garage. Morty was there waiting for him. He asks anxiously, “Rick, where, the hell, were you?”  
  
“I’ve been busy.”  
  
“Busy with what? Anything I can help with?”  
  
“This is the-urp last thing I need your help for, Morty.”  
  
“Wow Rick, you re-re-really don’t give a shit about me being there or not. Fine, I didn’t want to help anyway. It was actually nice with you being out for a change.”  
  
“Whatever, M-m-Morty, this isn’t something for you-urp to get involved in, yet. I just needed a few things from here, then I’m going back.” He takes a backpack and starts putting in some of the equipment he uses for experiments and inventions, “You hear me, Morty? This universe, Morty, seems different. I haven’t seen anything like it before.” He takes a few more things from the counter.”  
  
“Then what’s so bad about it? If it sounds great.”  
  
“It’s a lot to explain Morty. Urp-Later.”  
  
He opens another portal.  
  
“Be-be careful Rick.”  
  
“Oh, I’ll be fine.”  
  
He leaves through the same portal back to the safe house. Bianca had been exploring the house while he was gone. He sees her going to the front door. “Uh, I wouldn’t exactly go out there if I were you. Unless you want disappointment.”  
  
Hearing that made her more curious to open the door. Once it’s open, she realizes what he meant. Everything around the island has been painted with doom and gloom. She closes the door and tells Rick that she has to go check on something in the dragon realms. She opens a portal and leaves. Rick quickly drops his bag and follows behind her before the portal could close. “Woah-woah-woah, what are you doing? Do you even know what you’re walking into?” He asked her before looking at what she’s viewing. They see an ancient temple partially caved in from one corner.  
  
“I know what I’m getting into. This place is important, but Spyro wasn’t around to help protect it.” She quickly walks in the temple entrance that was still standing. Inside it, she hears the cries from three young dragons. She follows them to find them huddled together by a wall. Bianca takes them in her arms and brings them with her out of the temple.  
  
Rick asks, “What are you going to do with them?”  
  
“Their parents are dead, that’s why this place is important. It is used for training and protecting some young dragons without families. These were the only surviving ones. We’re taking them with us.”  
  
“Ugh fine.”  
  
She opens a portal back to the safe house and leaves followed by Rick.” She takes the dragons to the living room and sets them down on the couch. One dragon has an elegant jade green color. Another one has icy blue scales with an orange underbelly, horns, claws, and wings. The third one has black scales with glowing symbols on various parts of the body. The green and blue one have bracelets similar to their color.”  
  
Rick comes into the room, “I’m not checking what they are.”  
  
“You don’t have to. The girls are given small bracelets. Though I don’t know their names.”  
  
“Good. You can name them in a bit I just wanted to tell you that I believe I found out where Aku resides. I’m going to go there to drop off a small camera device that I’ll be able to access from here. There’s a chance I won’t be able to leave, so I’m leaving an extra portal gun for you to come get me.”  
  
“Be careful.”  
  
“I’ll be fine.” He leaves the safehouse.  
  
Bianca returns her attention back to the dragons. The green one is now missing. She sees her flying around breathing green flames. “I sense you like to cause mischief so I’ll call you Trixie.” The blue dragon seems to be trying to use some sort of ice power. “Alright, you’ll be Lumi,” she looks at the black dragon, “and you are Valathar.” She guesses Rick should have been back by now. “I’ll be back guys. Trixie, don’t burn the house down.”  
  
Trixie laughs at her command. Bianca finds the portal gun on the table. She turns around and shoots a portal from it, walking through it.  
  
Rick is currently tied to a chair in Aku’s lair.  
  
Everything in the room, including the chair, looks like they were made from stabilized fire. “Thank Aku, You finally came for him!” Aku yelled in relief.  
  
“Why are you so glad about it?” She asked.  
  
“Ugh, I can’t stand him. Get him outta here.”  
  
“With pleasure…wait... only if you tell me something.  
  
“I’m sparing your life today, isn’t that enough? What more do you want from me?” He asked.  
  
“Well, then I’ll just leave him here for a few more hours...”  
  
“No-no, uh ask away.”  
  
“You seem to already know about me like I’ve known you before. Why is that?”  
  
“Long ago in a distant land. I, Aku, decided to take over a world. A world that you came to defend. You fought very well, but I bested you in the end. The Kingdom fell to none other than Aku! Recently, I heard of your existence again and wondered how it could be, so I sought out to find you. Then I met another demon who also wants to see your downfall. I’d say this has worked out quite well. Is that all you wish to know?”  
  
Rick interrupts, “Yeah, that’s all very fascinating. Bianca, let’s go.”  
  
“Bianca?” Aku asked, confused. It’s as if he hasn’t heard her be called that before.  
  
If Him won’t answer this, maybe he will. “Not quite yet. One more question - would you possibly know of a man in a fancy suit with dark hair?”  
  
“Oh, that guy? You don’t know?” He laughs hysterically, He’s -“  
  
“Isn’t that enough storytelling for one day?” Him is suddenly in the room from a tunnel behind him. He has his claws on his hips.  
  
“Aaand now it’s time to go,” Bianca said. She cuts Rick loose from the chair with a dagger, and they portal out of there.  
  
Rick comments, “Nice interrogating, you really had him there. Hope you got what you wanted, cause it was also a nice way to get us killed!”   
  
“We got out, right? So what did you do there?” She asked.  
  
“That tunnel you saw Him standing in front of obviously seemed important. So, for now, I left a small device that is now attached to his ceiling. I’ll use the computer here to connect to it. Once I connect the computer to it, we’ll have access to see what’s in the tunnel.”  
  
Rick enters some codes on the computer. The device turns on and suddenly starts walking towards the hall with the camera feed fully functioning. The tunnel is visible enough with bright torches on the wall. Jail cells also line the walls. They can see some dragons standing in them. “This is somewhat like interdimensional cable. Pretty cool, huh?” Rick asked.  
  
“Sure, but I didn’t know he took some dragons too. At least we can see what’s going on. Do you think there are more tunnels besides this one?”  
  
“Must be since these guys aren’t whoever you were looking for.”  
  
“I never really paid much attention, but what if Him has his own tunnel?” She questioned in wonder, trying to picture the room she was in.  
  
“And I’m guessing we are going to need more of these.” He looks through the bag he brought. “Ah shit. Cause of Morty distracting me I only brought one of them. I’ll be right back. He leaves through a portal back to his garage. In a few minutes, he comes back with a shocked expression as if he saw a ghost.  
  
Bianca can see that was not a good sign. “I’m guessing Him was waiting for you.”  
  
“Yeah, and he told me he took them!”  
  
“Who?” She asked.  
  
“He took Morty and everyone else! Morty, Beth, and Summer were taken. Morty and Summer are my grandkids, and Beth is my daughter, just to clarify. Jerry was left behind. He’s their idiotic father. I guess even they didn’t want to deal with him, can’t blame ’em. But we gotta get them back!”  
  
“What were the words you originally said to me? Oh yeah, this isn’t even my problem.”  
  
“It wasn’t my problem! And because of you roping me into this, now it is!”  
  
“Don’t give me that, just because it got a little personal. You were interested in this anyways. “  
  
“That doesn’t matter.”  
  
“What did you get from there?”  
  
He puts his hand in his coat pocket, taking something out and putting it on the table. Bianca looks at what it is. She sees a few small mechanical beetles. “Doing time as a pickle, I spent quite a bit of time with roaches. It gave me a bit of inspiration to work on these. Do not ask why I was a pickle. Even though I could do it again, because I can, it was a one-time thing that doesn’t need to be explored again.”  
  
Bianca tries holding back a laugh. “Well now that I’ve heard the bread and butter about your adventure, what are we doing with those?”  
  
Rick briefly rolls his eyes. “Once I tweak these, we are going to drop by Him’s house. If he has a tunnel there, I’ll distract him while you go in it and place these on the wall. They’ll automatically crawl to the ceiling. If you see anyone, unfortunately, it might be too risky to break anyone out this time.” He fixes up three bugs to function correctly. “Now make two portals. One right in the middle of the room so I can distract him while yours if off somewhere less noticeable.”  
  
He gives her the bugs. Bianca makes one portal for Rick. She checks on the dragons briefly since they seemed quiet this whole time and finds them sleeping together on the couch. Quietly she goes back to the lab. Enough time had passed for her to make a second portal to enter the room by a back wall. She sees Rick standing in the middle of the living room. Him is on the couch listening to Rick ramble on.  
  
“What the hell did you do to Morty, you son of a bitch! Where is he?!”  
  
Bianca is now behind the couch by the tunnel in the wall, just as she guessed. Sneaking through the tunnel, she hears Rick shouting, “I know you took him. Don’t lie!”  
  
“I thought you didn’t care about him.” Him mocked.  
  
“Doesn’t matter what you think. I still need him back.”  
  
By now, she is far enough in the tunnel to not hear them as much. As quietly as possible, she places one bug on the wall and continues on. Other dragons from various places are locked up in the cages.  They notice her and perk up. She puts a finger to her lips; they nod in an understanding. She comes across a choice to take a right or go straight to the end, so she goes with the first choice. More jails are in this corridor. Amongst them, she finally finds Loki.  Overwhelming excitement fills her, yet it is contained with a big smile, “Hi there. I’m gonna get you out of here.”  
  
“It’s nice to see you too.” He says with love in his voice. She summons one of her swords. Before anything can be done with them, he states in sadness, “Your swords won’t break these bars.”  
  
“What? Not even the door?”  
  
“He knew you would come and try to break me out, so the bars are unbreakable. At least they are to things that are metal.”  
  
Fury flares up inside her for a second, followed by a sense of unease. “I’ll still get you out of here somehow.” She said with determination then places another bug on the empty wall opposite from the cell. She explains, “Gonna keep an eye on things with these.”  
  
“I’m sure you will. No matter what Him might say to you, or whatever he does, I know you can do this.”  
  
“I really hope I can.”  
  
Reluctantly, she continues on.    
  
While watching her, he says, “Right now I’m keeping an eye on things.”  
  
Bianca looks back to see him wink with a smile. This brings a smile to her and says with sarcasm, “I love you too.”  
  
She makes it down the hall to the end. There is a choice to go left or right, so she chooses to go left.  The distance to the end of the hallway isn’t very long and ends with the only choice of a left corridor. She goes with it. Down this hall, there are only a few jail cells on either side of a doorway into darkness. She is curious to check it out but knows it’s best not to do so today.  Bianca decides to leave the last bug here and continues down to the end of the hall that also forces her to go left. This hallway seems familiar. It was the one she started on. Bianca hurries down to the entrance she came from to check to see if Rick was still ranting at Him. Cautiously she looks in the room. A green portal is still there, so he must have just left. No sign of Him anywhere.  
  
A claw grabs her arm. “I knew you’d come back,” A familiar feminine voice said. She freezes in place and looks behind her in fear. “Thought you were so clever did you.”


	5. Game Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wake from a nightmare.  
> Every night's the same.  
> A garden of pleasures.  
> I see my soul in flames ~ Blutengel: The End

Him says, “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you? Your weapons will merely leave a scratch on those cages.” He keeps his grip on her.  
  
“Why did you take them?” Bianca asked.  
  
“Just having a bit of fun, dear. They are part of the new challenge I came up for you.”  
  
“What’s with these games? The world is in chaos; meanwhile, you waste my time with them.”  
  
“You know you can free it from the hell it’s in anytime you want, but you’ll be alone in the fight against an army. Plus, it’s really too late to do anything about it. You would just be wasting your time while wondering if they are still alive. So, here we are with you failing to sneak through here without me catching you, how pitiful.”  
  
His words sting as she just says. “Please, just let me go.”  
  
“Not yet.” His grip tightens as he drags her back through the hall to where Loki is. “Look who I found carelessly stalking the corridors, just begging to be caught.”  
  
Loki looks at Him with a cold expression saying, “A hefty price can come in the game of mischief. The player isn’t perfect, and eventually, the player loses the game.”  
  
Bianca holds back a smile. Him growls in disgust, “Guess I’ll admit you two were made for each other. For now, I’m sure you won’t mind I continue to have my fun with her, right?” He plays with her hair and kisses her on the cheek.  
  
Loki keeps a cold poker face on, not wanting to give Him the satisfaction of his anger. Him sees through it and taunts, “Did I pinch a nerve?” He digs his claw deeper in her arm and roughly ushers her back to his living room. Once they are there, he laughs, then asks, “So you really want them back, right?” She shakes her head, yes. He continues, “The only way to free them is not by metal, but by something that can be helpful for various types of needs.”  
  
“Why are you telling me this?”  
  
“It will be much more entertaining watching you try to free them. Now you may leave.”  
  
“Gee thanks.” She teleports out of there to the safe house.  
  
Bianca finds Rick already looking through the camera, which is viewing the room she and Him were in. He spins around in his chair to face her and says, “Yikes, I didn’t think he’d know you were there. Usually, you can pull one over on guys like that. Shouldn’t even have to do any of this. N-normally these guys can be-urp knocked out in a few hours, but no, this one has to show how much more special he is with elaborate challenges of amusement. He could have some other plan going on that we don’t know about.”  
  
“Wow, this must really bother you. What else did he do to you, besides take them?” She asked, feeling sympathy for him.  
  
“Doesn’t matter...just need to get them back.” He turns back around to the screen, explaining, “Oh, in case you were wondering why I wasn’t there, I had to leave because I was running out of improv options.”  
  
“It’s alright; I also sort of got a little sidetracked.” She said with a smile. “I had to check to see if you were still there.” She looks back at the screen and asks, “Won’t he notice the robot bug being there?”  
  
“Of course, that’s why they have a camouflage feature. I’m not stupid.” He presses a button on the desk. “Now they can’t be seen.”  
  
“Great. Now the only problem is I can’t break anyone out with metal.”  
  
“Way ahead of you. It’s obviously fire, so you can take one of your dragon friends and free everyone, including Morty.”  
  
“Makes sense.”  
  
Rick changes the camera to another bug bot and moves it to look around. Bianca watches what’s happening on the screen. They both notice two Aku clones walking. She becomes unamused, “Couldn’t have been that easy of a mission.”  
  
The bug crawls down the hall she saw Loki in and goes right. Near the end of the corridor, is the choice to go left or to continue onward to the end where there is a hall going right. Rick turns the bot left but stops it once he sees the entrance to Aku’s lair. “Holy shit, they’re connected. It-it makes sense why those clones are there. He mu-must be in on this dumb rescue gimmick. Morty must be in one of these cells in this maze. If you can just get rid of those clones and use your dragon to get them out…” he switches to another bug currently viewing more Aku clones, “I could use these to warn you of anything I see coming and…” After watching them some more, he suddenly stops everything he’s doing on the computer. He stands up and says, “eh fuck it, let’s just go get them.”  
  
Bianca laughs and asks, “Why the sudden change?”  
  
He turns around and answers in annoyance, “Cause I don’t feel like being that guy in the chair telling you what to do when I can be doing something there.” Also, we’ll be done with this faster. We’ll just break everyone out and deal with those clones.” She won’t argue with him helping, so she calls Trixie over and tells her about taking her with them to help. He uses his portal gun to open a portal for them to the dungeon.  
  
Not long after they enter, a couple of Aku clones notice them. Rick puts his portal gun back in his lab coat and pulls out his laser gun. He shoots them, causing them to disintegrate. Bianca notices they are in the hall that contains the dragons. Bianca tells Trixie to breathe fire on all the doors of the jail cells. She understands and takes off to free them. More clones arrive to be one-shotted by Rick, then a larger group come towards them. He throws a frisbee-like device slicing through all of them. They disappear after being hit. Bianca opens a portal for the dragons that have just been freed. A few of them whisper to her, “Thank you for releasing me.” They all safely leave the dungeon. Unfortunately, they might be in for a surprise since their homeworld looks unrecognizable.  
  
Trixie returns, hovering by Bianca. Rick leads them down the hall Loki is in. She stops, noticing he’s not there and panics. Her mind gets lost in thought of where he might be and why he’s not here. Rick grabs her by the arm, causing her to jump in surprise. She looks up at him as he impatiently yells, “Come on!”  
  
Before they could make it to the end, a big Aku scorpion crawls around the corner. Rick comments, “Really? A scorpion?” The scorpion pretends to ignore his remark and charges at them with his stinger ready to pierce someone. Rick shoots at him, but he dodges every laser beam. He gets closer to Rick and knocks the gun out of his hand with his claw. Bianca summons her twin katanas and swings one at the scorpion. He instantly catches it in his claw. Intentionally letting him have it, she stabs him with her other sword. The scorpion disappears, dropping the katana.  
  
“‘Bout time you did something,” Rick says.  
  
“You were getting rid of the others, what was I to do?”  
  
Rick doesn’t argue back, so they continue on. They reach the end and go right. The light ends a little passed the way to Aku’s lair. Once they reach the dark point, Trixie flies ahead and breathes a steady flame. They make it to the end and continue right.  
  
The green light makes a certain Twili she knows to stand out. “About time you found me.” Midna laughs.  
  
“I got a little delayed,” Bianca answered.  
  
Trixie destroys the door with her fire without command. “Thanks for getting me out of that,” Midna said and hugs her, “can’t stand being here.”  
  
Bianca says, “It’s ok to leave.”  
  
“Are you kidding? I want to stay and help.”  
  
“I appreciate it, but I don’t want anything else to happen to you. Please do not stay.”  
  
“I owe you for this. At least let me give you a sol light.” Midna summons a sol ball to illuminate everything around them with its bright white light and comments, “I would have really liked to do that before.” She hands it to her before leaving through a portal, created by Bianca, back home.  
  
They hear a girl yell out farther down the hall, “Heeello! If you are still there, can you please help us.”  
  
They follow the voice and find Summer, Beth, and Morty. Bianca says, “You must be Rick’s family.”  
  
They excitedly exclaim, “Yes!”  
  
Rick says, “Yeah yeah, would you mind?” Trixie lets them out. “Thanks, now let’s leave this hell of a maze.”  
  
Bianca says, “Uh that’s not everyone.”  
  
“Ugh, fine.”  
  
Two familiar crimson claws come out from the darkness beyond them and snatch Bianca, dragging her quickly away from everyone. No one is able to react fast enough to stop it. She is now deep enough in the darkness where she can’t see the white light. Something sticky wraps around her arm, followed by others like it wrapping themselves around each limb. She also feels herself being attached to something behind her.  
  
“Having fun? I know I am.” A feminine voice said. It sounded like it was right next to her. She says nothing to Him. His arm wraps loosely around her neck. “Well?” A tear escapes her right eye down the side of her face. Bianca didn’t want to play anymore; she didn’t want to play in the first place. She feels his nearly scorching hot tongue lick the tear stream. He continues saying, “Congratulations on freeing mostly everyone. I bet you’re eager to free the rest of them.”  
  
She quietly asks, “Them?”  
  
They see a light in the distance getting closer. He whispers in a deep tone, “I’ll take you with me to retrieve them.”  
  
She sees Rick approaching them while holding the light Midna had. It reveals crimson ribbons streamed behind Bianca. The same ribbon is what’s wrapped around her arms and legs. Him is in a spider form on the fabric slightly above her with his neck stretched, curving down, so his head is right next to her ear. One of his arms is still around her neck. Rick stops in place and stares. She looks to the side to see Him’s grinning face, then looks up to see the rest of him. Bianca breathes in fear as he softly laughs. He disappears along with all the ribbon, then he reappears in front of her. “Come with me.” He takes her by the hand and leads her back the way she came.  
  
Rick says, “Hey, I didn’t come all the way down here just so you could take her.”  
  
Him says, “Too bad. You already got what you desired.” As he gets closer, he grabs Rick by the neck with his free claw and lifts him off the ground, quickly tossing him to the side. Bianca looks at Rick with concern. Rick furiously starts to get up, but purple wires form over him, keeping him on the ground. He curses to himself while watching them leave. Bianca then notices everyone else must have left whether they wanted to or not. They walk through the dungeon to a room she hasn’t been in before. It appeared to be used for rituals with its overall dark appearance with candles on the walls, a table and an overall eerie vibe it gives off. She witnesses a soul-shattering site of Loki and Spyro on the ground and not moving. She remains silent with rage.  
  
Finally, she asks, “Why them? What did they do deserve this? Was my participation in your recreational activities not good enough?”  
  
“You were just fine dear, they not so much. They didn’t follow the rules.”  
  
“Are you just a glutton for the torture I go through, so much that you lust it? You carry out your greed for more. Then you pride yourself on all your accomplishments while others see your wrath.”  
  
“Very good. You know, things have really been going well so far, but we’re not finished here yet.”  
  
Bianca turns around to run, but he gracefully picks her up. Bringing her to the table, he sets her face down on it. He places his claws on her back and traces patterns on her. She feels a strange sensation from it, then it intensifies. Strong, intense energy comes and goes, pulsing down her spine. She starts shivering involuntarily from it as if she’s freezing, becoming sensitive to the touch. She lifts her head to ask, “What are you doing?”  
  
He answers, “I wanted you to feel what eternal darkness feels like. It’s something like no other.”  
  
She cries, “Why? What more could you possibly want? I don’t want this. I never wanted this. Why won’t you let me be?”  
  
“I felt like doing something I haven’t done before. It’s something new, and I needed a human for it. So I chose to claim you,” His voice deepens as he states, “You can’t go anywhere without me. You cannot dream without me. You cannot live without me.”  
  
She notices Rick at the entrance, unable to enter the room by a red force field. He tries blasting it but fails to crack it. She anxiously calls out to Rick for help. Him gets frustrated and stops what he’s doing. Instead, he stands her up and grips both shoulders. Him says to her, “I can’t possibly let you go yet. All this fear and sad energy will go to waste. I desire your energy whenever I want. Other times, it’s your life and soul when they are freshly in despair. It’s so hard to resist.”  
  
Rick uses various gadgets in an attempt to break through with no luck; even his portal gun wasn’t working. He curses after every attempt. Bianca feels her energy draining too fast to try to stop it. Consciousness slips away quickly with darkness drowning her mind. Rick sees she’s already unresponsive in a few seconds and is stunned by it. Finally, the force field breaks down. It was just in time for Him to instantly summon purple flames around himself and Bianca to teleport them away.  
  
Rick yells, “Come back, you coward! Haven’t you caused enough damage!” To his surprise, Him reappears in the room without her.  
  
Him talks in his deeper voice, “I’m only doing what I want. The only damage I did to you was stealing those you care about. Oh, wait… I meant those that don’t matter to you, and I also hurt your pride at being able to solve anything. You should have seen yourself trying, begging for each new plan to work on breaking down a simple force field. Face it; you got desperate and scared because someone is able to do things you can’t comprehend. You’re not even fighting back with some snarky interruption because you know it’s true.” Him’s voice returns to feminine, “Now I must be off.” He disappears.  
  
Rick’s portal gun begins working again. He goes back to the safe house where he sees they’ve been viewing the whole thing. Summer looks at him in concern, “Rick?”  
  
He immediately answers, “I don’t want to talk about it… this guy thinks he’s so great. What kind of idiot can’t break through a barrier?”  
  
“It’s not your fault. He has his demon powers. Who knows everything he’s capable of.”  
  
Rick yells, “What can’t he do? What is he not capable of, Summer? He had something in the air to make my portal gun a piece of shit, but now it’s working just fine. I used everything else that should have worked, as they would have in any other scenario, but the curse must have affected everything. Summer, I was as useless as Jerry!”  
  
Morty joins in the conversation, asking, “Um Rick, why did you agree to help her in the first place?”  
  
Rick answers, “Cause I wanted the challenge and cause, Him seemed like he was pretending to be better than everyone.”  
  
“Wow Rick, I think this is the most you’ve opened up with something personal.”  
  
“Yeah well, it’s not what I had in mind.”  
  
Him is back in his world carrying Bianca, who is still unconscious, into purple fire.  
  
“Once I laid my eyes on you, I knew you’d be mine. Oh, it’s so fun to play with you. It’s so fun to torment you. Your pain is my thrill. Your sorrow is my pleasure. When your life starts to fade, it brings new curiosity. Your soul is the best candy no one else will get to taste. Allow me to give you a taste of my burning passion. You take all of this so well. That’s why I like to go over the edge as far as I can until you fall. Now you will be fallen.”  
  
Bianca wakes up in a familiar bedroom in the safe house. Her body feels like it had been asleep for a thousand years. Memories of recent events rush like tidal waves. She remains in bed, unwilling to get up until the bedroom door across the room opens, then she sits up immediately. Summer peeks in to see if she was awake then enters the room saying, “Hey, are you alright? You’ve been in here for a while.”  
  
Bianca merely asks, “I have?”  
  
Summer answers, “Yeah, Rick finally got you out of that room Him was torturing you in.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Why does he seem obsessed with doing bad things to you?”  
  
“I don’t know, just that he seems to enjoy it.”  
  
“Maybe this will cheer you up. Rick mentioned you saw someone in your dreams. He thinks he found the world this person is from and can send you there.”  
  
“What’s the point of that now?”  
  
“It’s something. I also begged him to see if he can do something about what happened to them.”  
  
She asks in disbelief, “Is he really going to bring them back from the dead?”  
  
“If anyone can do it, it’s Rick.”  
  
“Fine, we’ll see what happens. I’ll go and maybe find something out.”  
  
She gets up and sees Summer already has a portal gun with her. She shoots it away from them to open a portal. “He already had the coordinates in it. I’ll go with you.”  
  
“No. I’ll go alone.”  
  
“I didn’t ask. I said, I’m going with you. Plus, there’s nothing else to do than to listen to Morty freak out about everything that happened.”  
  
Bianca just accepts it and says, “Alright, let’s go.”


	6. Mirror Mode

Summer and Bianca are on a boardwalk on a beach. The mysterious man she saw in her dream is only a short distance away. She points him out, and they walk up to him. He notices they looked as if they are on a mission.  
The man speaks in an English accent, “Who might you ladies be? Haven’t seen you around.”   
  
“This is Summer, and I’m Bianca.”  
  
“Pleased to meet you. The name is Lucifer Morningstar.” He says.  
  
Summer becomes overjoyed, “Oh my God. I knew I should have recognized you.”   
  
Bianca asks her, “You know him?”  
  
“Yeah, there’s a show with him. I think pretty much everything you know is in some form of entertainment for our Earth.”  
  
“Interesting.”  
  
Lucifer interrupts, “Is there anything you girls needed me for?”   
  
Bianca tells him, “I saw you in a dream, and it seemed like it was important. It was like I knew you from somewhere, though I’ve never seen you until today.”  
  
“Excuse me?” Lucifer asked in confusion. He continues, “While I’m glad you aren’t afraid of who I am. I have no idea what you are talking about. You’re not some stalker, are you?”  
  
“No! Of course not! We’re not even from here.”  
  
Summer states, “We originally just wanted to know who you are.”  
  
Bianca says, “This has to mean something.”  
  
“Well, I assure you I have no idea. Now good day, ladies.” He said, frustratedly and walked around them, continuing on his way.  
  
“This was a mistake, Summer.” Bianca felt like nothing else could be done. Summer shoots open a portal back to the safe house.   
  
Lucifer hears the sound and turns around. Amazed at what he sees, he shouts, “Wait!”  
  
Short on patience, she stops and stares at him. Summer also stays with her.   
  
“I’ve seen portals to Hell and Heaven, but not one like that. I guess you were telling the truth.” He sounded apologetic.  
  
“I guess I was,” she answered bluntly.  
  
“And here I thought you were just some crazy human from another state.” He said in amusement before becoming serious, “You do seem familiar the more I think about it. I’ll have to get back to you on that later.”  
  
“Thank you.”   
  
“When you return, come by a place called Lux.”   
  
“Ok.”   
  
“It was nice meeting you Lucifer.” Summer said.   
  
“Yes, same to you and your friend.” Lucifer caries on while they leave.   
  
Summer and Bianca return to the laboratory vacant from any life. Summer puts the portal gun on a table before asking, “Where is everyone?”   
  
“How would I know?”  
  
They walk around for any signs of them. Summer goes into the kitchen and calls Bianca. She runs in there to see Morty gagged and tied to a chair. Summer yells, “I thought this place was safe!”   
  
Bianca answers, “It is or was.”   
  
Summer unties Morty; he quickly removes the gag and yells in a panic, “What the hell is this place? Everything here is fucked up. I-i want to go home. None of the adventures I went on with Rick were as bad as this. Awe gee is Rick even ok? Can you find him so I can leave?”   
  
Summer says to Morty, “Geez Morty suck it up and come help look for grandpa.”  
  
“I can’t leave this room! There are no doors, no exits.”   
  
“Ok. Bianca, what’s gotten into him?”  
  
“I’m not sure.” She leaves the room and finds a piece of paper on the table. She calls Summer into the room and reads the paper out loud, “Distinguish the truths from the lies. Succeed, and you will fly. The answers may surprise you, what will you do?”   
  
Bianca tears the paper in frustration. Summers asks, “Hey! Why did you do that?”  
  
“We are not in the safe house. This is just another one of his games.”   
  
“How did we get here?”  
  
“I don’t know. Maybe from the dungeon?”  
  
“When no one was around, I used one of his other portal guns to get back into that place. I wanted to find out where he took you, but Rick came shortly after me. He told me he had just found you and that you were safe. I believed him and just followed him out. I didn’t think anything of it.”  
  
“The more I think about it, it does seem strange that Rick was able to find Lucifer so well when I didn’t ask him or mention it other than once. Perhaps the Rick you saw wasn’t really Rick.”  
  
“Man he can really throw you in some loop. So he created this whole illusion just to mess with our minds? Also, why take me, then?”  
  
“Yep and probably to show off and to cause more chaos.”  
  
“What a bitch.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“So, what do we do now?”  
  
“I take it from the hint that the others, minus the dragons, are in other rooms. We’ll have to ask them how we leave.”  
  
They search until they find Beth and Rick in separate bedrooms upstairs. Bianca unties Beth from the chair. Beth says, “Oh, thank you. I never expected this would happen. Are my kids ok? What about my dad?”  
  
“Yes, they are safe.”  
  
“Oh good.”  
  
“What happened here?”   
  
“He told me about some secret. Gosh, I wish I could remember what it was.”  
  
Summer is in the other bedroom talking to Rick. “So you’re telling me there definitely is a way to get out of here?  
  
“Of course there ways out of any situation, then what’s the point of this?”  
  
Summer and Bianca meet in the hall. Summer says, “They go from normal to strange. They aren’t real right?” Bianca shakes her head no. “Now what?”   
  
“We’ll have to make sense of what they say. Let’s change it up. You talk to Rick; I’ll talk to Beth.”  
  
They both go to each room. Bianca asks Beth, “How do we get out?”  
  
Beth laughs, “It’s so simple, yet so crazy. You’ll get it.”  
  
“Is there any other point to this than entertainment?”  
  
“What? I mean you can put on quite a show. I just want to help you.”  
  
Bianca wanted to storm out the room but didn’t. “Right. It’s hard to feel like I’m not talking to Him disguised as you.”  
  
“I don’t know who he is, but he seems like an interesting guy.”  
  
Meanwhile, Rick is talking to Summer, “I should be the one stuck here instead of you. Use a portal gun, obviously.”  
  
Summer runs out into the hall to meet Bianca and ushers her to follow her. They go downstairs, and Summer goes back to the table she left the portal gun on and picks it up. “Rick said this is the way out.”  
  
“One way to find out.”  
  
She shoots open a portal for them. They walk through it only to end up in the same spot. Bianca quickly checks the kitchen and sees Morty standing there. “You really thought that would work? The old portal gun to nowhere trick.” He commented and laughed.   
  
Summer joins them as Bianca impatiently asks Morty, “If that didn’t work, then what does?”  
  
“Awe gee, are you that blind? There are doors everywhere. Only one is the way the real way out, of course.”  
  
“Are you sure about that, Morty? Cause I went back to tell Rick the portal gun didn’t work, and he told me there were multiple ways to leave.” Summer said.   
  
“Well he’s wrong, Summer. Only one way.”  
  
Summer suggests, “Maybe we should ask my mom.” Bianca agrees, and they meet her where they left her. Summer asks, “Mom, Morty is telling us how there is one exit. Rick has been going on about multiple exits. Who’s right?”  
  
“You know my father is always helpful and wouldn’t steer you guys wrong. I wouldn’t doubt Morty either. Be sure to consider any doors or windows that can open.”  
  
“You know them more than I do. Who’s lying?” Bianca asked Summer.   
  
“They all nearly sound like themselves now. I know my brother is pretty much an idiot, but in this case, I don’t know. Wait, isn’t there a normal door?”  
  
“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s it.”  
  
“If we try it, we’ll know if Rick told the truth.”  
  
They hurry to the front door. Summer opens it. Outside is a neighborhood of houses demons reside in. They see demons walking by, going about their day. Summer panics and shuts the door. “Ok, that’s certainly not it!” Bianca remains silent, baffled by what she saw, before thinking about what else they could do. Summer starts looking around for windows and other doors while Bianca looks around the house for anything unusual. In the bedroom Rick is in, Summer finds a big wooden trap door with a handle in the floor and calls for Bianca to see it. She runs in the room and finds it strange. It feels like it’s begging to be opened, so she decides to do it. A crimson vortex spiraling down into darkness is revealed through the open door. The vortex feels like it’s pulling them in. Summer breaks from looking at it and closes the door.  
  
“Why did you close it?” Bianca asked.   
  
“That hell hole is certainly not it.”  
  
“Him said in the note something like the answer is crazy.”  
  
“Everything in this house is crazy! You’re even trusting in his riddle; that alone is crazy.”  
  
“I’ll do it if you won’t.”  
  
“Nearly there, but beware. Which one is right, and which one brings eternal fright?” Rick said.   
  
“I guess a hell hole is the answer.”  
  
“He has to be lying.” Summer said.   
  
“Maybe we should ask Beth.”  
  
They revisit her and notice the same type of door there. Summer opens it to find the same abyss. “Which one is it?”  
  
Beth looks at Bianca in the eyes, “Choose the one you feel is right.   
  
Bianca looks at the vortex in that room. This one didn’t seem the same as the other one. She ultimately decides, “The other one is the right.”  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
“Mostly.”  
  
They go back to it. Summer comments, “This is still insane.”  
  
“I know,” Bianca said before jumping down, followed by Summer. Falling for a few seconds, they end up standing in the safe house laboratory.   
  
“Did it work?” Summer asked.   
  
They see Rick as he says, “Finally, where the hell have you guys been?”  
  
Bianca answers Summer, “I believe so,” She then tells Rick, “We were in some mock-up of this place that Him created. Also, that version of you found out about Lucifer’s dimension. He was the guy in the dream I mentioned to Aku.”  
  
“Lucifer? Not that hack from the shop.”  
  
Summer explains, “No-no, a different one. The one from that series. We met him then ended up back to that fake house. So glad to be out of there.”  
  
“Sounds like chaos.” They heard a voice say from the living room. Bianca recognized it and sees Loki sitting in a chair in the living room watching everybody. Her heart leaps like it’s on fire as she quickly walks to him as he stands up. They embrace each other for a minute.   
  
She praises Rick, “I can’t believe you did it!”  
  
“Uh, ye-yeah well I can’t either. I surprise myself at times.” He nervously said.   
  
Loki asks, “What? Did you see me dead or something?”   
  
“Yeah, you and Spyro.”  
  
Summer agrees, “I saw the same thing. That Rick was like, I think I can fix this.”  
  
He laughs, “Those were demons he made to look like us. He could not keep me forever. Eventually, I escaped, along with Spyro.”   
  
They all look back at Rick for what he said. Now no longer nervous, he adds, “Yeah what he said,” he pauses and says, “I had a moment I thought I’d never have. I didn’t know what to do. When they were gone, I was hysterical because I understand what pisses Him off.”   
  
Loki states, “Which is me. Him is a master of chaos. That’s what makes him unpredictable. I am the same; therefore, he doesn’t like it so much.”  
  
“So if you’re here, where’s Spyro,” Bianca asked.  
  
“Currently resting with your other dragon friends.”   
  
She kisses him. “I’ve missed you, though I have to go somewhere.”  
  
“Where to?”  
  
“I need to go back to see Lucifer. He told me to come back for answers for something.”  
  
“Alright. Let’s go.”  
  
Bianca is more than ok with that as she nods in agreement. Summer, who is in the kitchen, overheard everything and yells, “See if he can help us!”  
  
“I will!”  
  
They go through a portal to the streets of the city Lucifer lives in and find Lux after asking random people for directions. They find out it’s a nightclub currently finished for the night. Lucifer is behind the bar, pouring himself a drink. Before sipping it, he sees them and says, “I see you have returned.”  
  
“Yes, I have, and this is Loki.”  
  
“Would either of you care for something?” They each shake their head, no. He then offers them to have a seat at the bar; they accept.  
  
“Bianca, you actually did seem familiar, but I did not know from where. I ask my brother, and he reminded me. You fought alongside an army of angels and demons against a ruthless army led by Aku on a different world. Many on our side didn’t make it, including you. We lost the war and had to retreat.”  
  
“If he killed me, then why am I still here,” she asked.   
  
“I have no idea. I mean you look the same now as you did then, in a good way of course. You’re from some region called Avalar, right?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Yep, the same,” he said and shifts his attention to Loki, “now what’s someone like you doing in a place like Avalar?”  
  
“I’ve made enemies; I’ve had a few allies. It was all fun and games and a bit of evading capture. Eventually, it was all the same with nothing new, so I decided to go somewhere else I’ve never seen, to leave it all behind.  I ended up in her world, a place with dragons and other magical beings. I can go on, but how does someone like you know her?”  
  
“She was a close friend, the ice to my fire if you will.”  
  
“Fair enough.”  
  
“Good. Well, is there anything else you’d like to know?”  
  
She answers, “Aku has invaded my world, along with someone called Him.”  
  
Lucifer drinks his alcohol in disgust, “I also despise him.”  
  
“What did he do to you?”  
  
“Because I am the devil, I ruled over Hell for a long time, too long, which is why I decided to take an extended vacation from it. Unfortunately, my carelessness about it resulted in something important being stolen.”  
  
“I’m guessing Him took it.”  
  
“It’s a crimson jewel. If someone else comes into contact with it, it will transform into a piece of jewelry of their choice that they must wear in order to become king of Hell. After twenty-four hours, they are free to remove it and keep it somewhere safe. The inhabitants seem to sense when a change in power is made.”  
  
Loki asks, “Why not take it back?”  
  
“I want nothing to do with it. I know he’s gotten a power boost from it. So if you plan on doing something with him, I wish you luck.”  
  
“Actually that was what I was going to bring up. Him and Aku have already done so much damage, I wasn’t sure what could stop them,” Bianca said.   
  
“Before I escaped, I overheard Aku mention something about the Dragon City still standing. Maybe not everything has been conquered,” Loki said.   
  
“Then they can be stopped there.”  
  
Lucifer states, “If that’s your plan, then I warn you that although Him may be immortal, he can be weakened.”  
  
Bianca asks, “Can you please help us?”  
  
“I can’t, sorry.”  
  
Loki impatiently asks, “Do you not know what she has witnessed to get to this point? Do you think she wants to face them?”  
  
“I can very well imagine the various things that happened. I’m sorry for an unfortunate soul to experience it, I truly am. I’m also sorry that this is not something I should get involved in.”   
  
“I knew it was too good to be true. Let’s go, Bianca,” Loki said in disappointment.   
  
Loki and Bianca stand from their seats. A knife flies passed them, striking the wall behind Lucifer. Everyone looks to see who threw it. They see a woman dressed in black leather, standing quite a few feet away.   She joins them at the bar.  
  
“Was that really necessary Maze,” Lucifer asked in annoyance and calms down, saying, “Everyone, this is Mazikeen, she came with me when I left Hell and continues to stand by my side.”   
  
She gives Lucifer an annoyed look before telling Bianca, “Just practicing. Lucifer informed me about who you were. I couldn’t help but listen to your conversation, and for some reason I like you. So I would like to help.   
  
Lucifer reacts to her offer immediately, “What? No, Maze, you can’t go. Those guys are monsters.”  
  
“Thanks for the concern, but I’m going. Just because you’re afraid to face them, I’m not, and you can’t stop me.” Maze says in frustration.  
  
“I’m not afraid! Fine, I guess I’ll go too.” He finishes his drink.   
  
Bianca says, “Thank you so much.  You have your own weapons, right?”  
  
Maze laughs, “Only a few.”   
  
“We’ll be right back,” Lucifer said.  He and Maze disappear up the stairs. Lucifer grabs his sword and asks, “Are you seriously willing to do this?”  
  
“You told me about these demons.  They do not deserve another win.” She said as she grabs an ax and a mace. “Don’t you think they could use a little punishment for once?”  
  
He sighs, “I guess. Let’s go before I change my mind.”


End file.
